After a devastating 1-0 loss to the future State Champions Crystal Lake South back in October, the Boys Varsity Soccer Team is looking to rebound and make some changes to the outcome this season.
This year, the team features lots of experienced talent including senior captains Boden Rupprecht, Tyler Bernstein, and Ryan Knight. The team is also made up of new faces, such as freshman Lucas Whiteley who is starting at the Left Back position. This team is all under great mentoring led by Coach Robert Parry.
The majority of returning seniors will heavily impact the progression of the team. “I believe that we have a more energetic group of people that are excited to play with each other. A majority of our players are returning so we have a lot to build off of going into this year,” said Bernstein.
The team is already off to a great start after creating many great opportunities. Even though they have not won all of their games, this start serves as a building block to improve upon throughout the season.
“We need to focus more on our attention to detail. We have had no problem creating many chances, but there needs to be an overall better capitalization on those opportunities,” said Parry.
This year the team is hoping to successfully bounce back with a deeper run into the playoffs. “I expect our team to do very well in conference and then win state to end our season,” said Knight.
Two of the team’s first wins came from the North Shore Shootout. They started with a shootout win against Carmel, followed up by a 4-0 victory against Lakes. The boys will have the opportunity to play for the tournament championship on Wednesday, Sept. 11th against Glenbrook South.
Throughout the season, the team will have many important games on their schedule. One of which being their rivalry matchup against Libertyville.
“Libertyville is our rival and we had a very close win last year. In order to win, we are going to have to perform at our best,” said Rupprecht.
Players agree that the more students attending games, the more confident they are on the field. “As a team, we perform better when there is more fan support. We feed off the energy they bring,” said Rupprecht.
The team wishes to see a much higher fan support at their important conference games. More specifically, their home games against Lake Zurich on Sept 19th and against Libertyville on Oct. 1st.
